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I recently came across a statistic claiming that only about 10% of professing Christians have read the entire Bible. I’m not sure if that claim is correct, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that only a minority of believers have read the Bible in its entirety, for a variety reasons.

I would guess that most active Christians have read or been exposed to most of the New Testament (and maybe the “famous” Old Testament books, like Genesis and Psalms) in the course of their churchgoing and personal devotions; but once you start getting into the lesser-known Old Testament books (Leviticus and Numbers, I’m looking at you), I’d expect to see a dropoff in reading.

Does that 10% include you? Have you read the entire Bible? If not, what stopped you, and do you plan to do so in the future?

Share your thoughts!

In December you’ll be able to read the Holman Christian Standard Bible on your Xbox360. Lifeway books is preparing to launch an application of sorts called Bible Navigator X that will sell for about five US dollars.

The idea came from Aaron Linne, a Lifeway employee. In the video below, Linne talks about how he consumes almost all of his media and content through his Xbox… everything except for books.

He is “more comfortable with a controller in my hand than I am with a book in my hand.”

I’m always fascinated to see different ways in which we package the Bible to reach audiences. Whether it be through paraphrases, like The Message, or devices like Faith Comes by Hearing’s Proclaimer, Christians have gotten God’s Word into nearly every medium that people invent.

I do wonder if we’re losing something when we move from paper to electronic devices though. On one hand, it’s far easier to distribute and access the text digitally than it is physically; on the other hand, I find something spiritual in the heft and physicality of a print Bible.

What do you think about reading the Bible through your Xbox? Do you think anything is lost when we start using electronic media as the primary tool for Bible reading?

Should Christians really be self-sufficient? In today’s devotional from Our Daily Bread, Joe Stowell challenges us with the message that being a Christian means relying on Christ, not on ourselves:

The city of Laodicea had a water problem. One nearby town had fabulous hot springs and another had cold, clear water. Laodicea, however, was stuck with tepid, mineral-laden water that tasted like sulphur. Not hot. Not cold. Just gross.

Given those facts, the words of Jesus to the Laodicean believers in Revelation 3 must have stung. Jesus rebuked them for being “neither cold nor hot” (v.15). And when He thought of them, He felt like vomiting (v.16)—like the effect of their drinking water.

What was their problem? It was the sin of self-sufficiency. The Laodiceans had become so affluent that they had forgotten how much they needed Jesus (v.17).

When we say we have everything we need, but Jesus isn’t at the top of the list, He is deeply offended. Self-sufficiency distracts us from pursuing the things we really need that only He can give. If you’d rather have cash than character, if your credit cards are maximized and your righteousness is minimized, if you’ve become smart but aren’t wise, then you’ve been shopping in all the wrong places. Jesus offers commodities that are far better (v.18).

He’s knocking at your heart’s door (v.20). Let Him in. He will give you all you really need! — Joe Stowell

We must be careful to avoid
All self-sufficiency;
If sinful pride gets in the way,
God’s hand we will not see. —Sper

We always have enough when God is our supply

How do you seek to put Christ first in your life?

Does God really still speak to us today in the twentieth century? That’s the question addressed by today’s devotional, from Woodrow Kroll’s Early in the Morning devotional series. Kroll describes what it must have been like to hear Jesus’ teaching in person—and explains why we can hear his voice just as clearly today:

Today, in the twentieth century, Jesus does not speak to us and teach us as He did early in the morning in the temple, but He still speaks to us through His Word, God’s Word the Holy Bible. We have the benefit of hearing the very same teaching that these heard who came at the dawning of the day to the temple. We can sit at the feet of Jesus today by reading His Word.

H. A. Ironside told of a godly man named Andrew Frazer, who had come to southern California to recover from a serious illness. Though this Irishman was quite weak, he opened his worn Bible and began expounding the truths of God’s Word in a way that Ironside had never heard before. So moved by Frazer’s words was Ironside, that his curiosity drove him to ask, “Where did you learn these things? Did you learn them in some college or seminary?” The sickly man said, “My dear young man, I learned these things on my knees on the mud floor of a little sod cottage in the north of Ireland. There, with my open Bible before me, I used to kneel for hours at a time and ask the Spirit of God to reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word to my heart. He taught me more on my knees on that mud floor than I ever could have learned in all the seminaries or colleges in the world.”

To spend time in the Word of God yields a much richer understanding of the deep things of theology than to spend time in a classroom. For the person denied a formal education in Bible and theology there is no shame if we spend time at the feet of Jesus. From early in the morning, throughout the day, and into the evening hours the great scholars of the Word become so because of time spent in God’s Book and on their knees. Each of us has the same opportunity to do that. Let’s take that opportunity today.

Read the full devotional at Back to the Bible.

What’s the state of your Bible study and reading today? Do you hear Jesus’ voice of teaching and encouragement when you read the Bible? Do you need to spend more time learning at Jesus’ feet by reading God’s Word?

Do Old Testament rules about things like tattoos and hair length apply to us today, or were they intended only for their original pre-Christian audience? What do you do when you come across a passage that contains some rules that seem timeless and others that seem specific to the culture of Old Testament Israel?

Here’s how Delve Into Jesus answers that question:

In almost every case, when Paul or another apostle commands us to obey some cultural custom, the goal is to demonstrate to the world that we are children of God and to distance ourselves from the pagans. This was a very serious issue in the 1st century. Many new Christians had been gentiles or pagans and the early Church leaders wanted to ensure that they did not slip back into their old ways. It was also important that they did not have any kind of external appearance which made people think that they were still worshiping their old idols. This is the main reason for the decree that men should not have long hair, tattoos, or body piercings. These were things the pagans did, so any Christians who looked that way might cause others to be concerned.

That principle remains the same thousands of years later. Rightly or wrongly, people judge by appearances. As Christians, we need to avoid doing anything that would cause others to be uncomfortable with the way we look, or would cause them to fail to recognize us as followers of Christ. This is particularly true when we are witnessing to non-Christians.

The essence of the commandments given to us by Paul and Moses thousands of years ago still apply today even though the cultural specifics have changed. We must not give our fellow Christians a reason to think we have slipped into “pagan” ways. Likewise, we must not give unbelievers any reason to judge us and reject us before we have had a chance to present the Good News.

Read the rest of Delve Into Jesus’ answer.

Do you agree that the principles behind these Old Testament regulations still apply? Or have they been completely superseded by the New Testament law of grace?

What do you think?

One of the goals of contemporary Christianity is to translate the Bible into every possible language. It’s a desire that flows from the Great Commission in which Jesus tells us to go make disciples of all nations. We see Bible translation as a way to ensure that everyone has access to becoming one of Christ’s disciples.

Yesterday, I ran across a fascinating article yesterday that Lausanne Pulse published a few years ago about the history of Bible translation. In the article they mention that the Bible spent the first 1500 years of Christianity in only 35 languages. It wasn’t until the Reformation that Christians started focusing on Bible translation. Yet despite that renewed focus, it took the organization of the Bible Societies in the 1800s for Christians for it to really take off.

The following is a conglomeration of two charts from the Lausanne Pulse article, Bible Translation in a New Millennium:

I don’t have much commentary on this other than to say that it’s just amazing to see how we’ve doubled the number of languages the Bible can be read in in the past seventy years! Yet, even though we’ve made such great progress in the past few hundred years, there are still about 4,000 languages to go.

We all have problems, and we want solutions. That’s why it’s so tempting to treat the Bible like a big book of answers. We just want to find the right verses and passages, because if we can find them then we’d never screw up and get embarrassingly drunk again, or we could win that argument about women in the church, or we could finally have a clear conscience about whether to get the couch or donate the money to charity.

In the Dark Side of Bible Reading Jeremy Berg writes of his concern for this approach. He’s worried that the self-absorption we bring to the study of Bible could be harmful.

Here’s an excerpt:

I am concerned about those who approach the text with their own issues and preoccupations already in mind and ask the Word to magically speak to those issues. I am irritated with an attitude (usually well-meaning and unintentional, by the way) that sounds like: “That’s a nice story Jesus, but can you please address my problem with __________?”…And a thousand other variations.

The hidden dark side of this posture toward God’s Word is that it reveals a deep-seated self-absorption that keeps us at the center of our universe and insists that God and His Word orbit our needs and serve our interests.

He goes on to offer what he calls a “different posture toward God’s Word”:

1. First, let’s humbly approach God’s Word as we would approach God himself. Let’s reverently bow in awe and listen intently to what he is actually saying to us.

2. Instead of “applying the Bible to our lives” (which again assumes we are the fixed center point and the Word is just a holy ointment to be applied to our souls) let’s instead try to “apply ourselves to the Bible.” Put narratively, let’s not let give God a convenient place within our own story; but rather find ourselves swept up in God’s much larger Story!

3. Instead of bringing all of our concerns to the text and forcing it to speak to them, let’s instead let God’s concerns invite us out of our (relatively) petty preoccupations and into the realm of heavenly realities. “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things” (Col 3:2)…

4. Finally, personal application must come only AFTER one has given God’s Word a fair hearing. Let God lead the conversation where He so desires. When we’re done letting God’s Word speak then we can ask the Spirit to give us a personal assignment in response to God’s challenge.

Read the entire Dark Side of Bible Reading post.

What do you think? Do you agree with Mr. Berg’s posture toward the Bible?

The Bible lies at the heart of the Christian faith. Without it, we would know little or nothing about God, Jesus, and the Easter story that defines Christianity.

The Bible makes some very specific claims about truth and the meaning of life—so it’s clearly important to ask whether or not we can trust what the Bible says about these things. How would you answer that question?

Here’s how Faith Facts answers the question:

From many years of study, we have become convinced that the Bible is true and trustworthy—and that the skeptics are incorrect in their challenges. There are many evidences that confirm that the Bible is reliable. First, history and archeology confirm the biblical record. Over 25,000 sites have now been discovered that pertain to the Bible. As Nelson Glueck, renowned Jewish archaeologist said, “It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.” Even though archeology does not prove spiritual truth, archeological confirmation is an amazing testimony to the accuracy of the Bible.

As a comparison, the religion of Mormonism makes many claims as to history, especially about the Americas. Yet none of its claims have been or can be verified by archeology, seriously damaging its credibility.

Read the rest of Faith Facts’ answer.

Here’s how RBC Ministries answers the question:

There are many factors that give the Bible unparalleled moral and spiritual authority. The Old and New Testaments are deeply rooted in a historical and geographical record that is linked to laws, poetry, and predictions that express timeless life-changing wisdom. Even the parts of the Old Testament with parallels in Mesopotamian literature (the creation story, the story of the flood, etc.) are incomparably superior to the pagan versions. Although it is an ancient document, its realism is stunning and contemporary. The records of the Bible portray people in all of their complexity and inconsistency, with not only their achievements but also their sins—and the consequences of their sins—clearly displayed. J. B. Phillips expressed in a few words what countless others have noticed about the New Testament: It has the “ring of truth.” There are few people of any religious tradition who are familiar with it that don’t hold it in high esteem. Further, the historical accuracy of Scripture has been demonstrated time and again—often to the surprise of skeptical scholars.

Read the rest of RBC Ministries’ answer.

How would you answer this question?

What do you think?

Some exciting news from our sister site, BibleGateway.com: they’ve launched the new Bible Gateway Store beta! The Bible Gateway Store has thousands of books, both digital and print, to complement your online Bible reading and study.

It’s a great way to pick up great content and support the Bible Gateway at the same time. You can pick from a wide variety of formats—in addition to print titles, there are plenty of audiobooks and ebooks for use on your ebook reader or MP3 player. The Store keeps an online library of the digital books you’ve purchased; you can browse your library and download titles as many times as you want, from anywhere with an internet connection.

The Store is in beta while the Bible Gateway team expands its inventory, fixes bugs, and improves the shopping experience for final public release, but it’s fully functional—and even if you don’t buy anything, they welcome and ask for your feedback.

So take a look at the brand new Bible Gateway Store and check back often, as they’ll be adding new products on a regular basis! And don’t hesitate to share questions, feedback, or comments about the Store during the beta testing period.

Do you struggle with any bad Bible reading habits?

I’m not talking about the bad habit of not actually reading the Bible (a battle every Christian I know has fought at least a few times in the course of their life). Rather, have you ever caught yourself reading the Bible in a misleading or counterproductive way?

Andy Le Peau talks about bad Bible reading habits and suggests that inductive Bible study is a good way to re-train yourself to get the most out of your Bible reading. He points out one example of bad Bible reading, described by Ajith Fernando at Koinonia: the habit of scanning through a large passage and picking out the handful of familiar, inspiring verses—ignoring the rest of the text, which may provide critical context for those inspiring bits.

I’ve certainly seen that bad habit in action, and have fallen victim to it a few times myself. Another bad habit lots of us commit is proof-texting—singling out a verse or two that appears to support an idea we like, without bothering to ask whether the verse, put in the full context of the complete passage, is really saying what we want it to.

What about you? Have you noticed any bad Bible habits taking root in (or even worse, being promoted by) the church today? How did you break out of your own bad reading habits?